Board of Directors
Sidney Himmel, CA – Chairman, iCo Therapeutics
President and Chief Executive Officer, Trigon Exploration Canada Ltd.
Sidney Himmel is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Trigon Exploration Canada Ltd. and has over 17 years experience in Canadian capital markets. Mr. Himmel previously served as Vice President and Director for Toronto Dominion Securities, where he specialized in biotechnology, and has also worked as a Corporate Finance specialist at Merrill Lynch Canada Ltd. While in the investment banking industry, Mr. Himmel participated in the successful funding of numerous growth and large capitalization companies raising capital in both public and private financial settings and served in equity institutional sales and trading, heading up the Preferred Share Sales desk of Toronto Dominion Securities. Mr. Himmel holds B.Sc. and B.A. degrees from the University of Toronto. He is a member of both the American Chemical Society and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario.
Richard Barker, DPhil, BA – Director
Director General of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI)
Dr. Barker is currently the Director Geneal of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI). Prior to joining APBI, Dr. Barker was the Founder and President of New Medicine Partners, CEO of iKnowMed, Chief Executive of Chiron Diagnostics, General Manager of IBM’s Worldwide Healthcare Solutions division, and leader of McKinsey’s European healthcare practice. He is currently a board member of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (EFPIA) and council member of the international equivalent body (IFPMA). He also serves on the board of Adlyfe, a company specializing in protein misfolding diseases. Dr. Barker’s academic background includes research in biological magnetic resonance at Oxford, Leeds and Munich. He holds a D.Phil in biophysics and a B.A. in chemistry, both from Oxford University.
William Jarosz, JD – Director
Partner, Cartesian Capital Group, LLC
William Jarosz is currently a Partner at Cartesian Capital Group, LLC, a global investment management firm. From 1997 until 2005, Mr. Jarosz served as Managing Director and General Counsel of AIG Capital Partners, a subsidiary of American International Group, Inc., and as Managing Director of the AIG-Brunswick Millennium Fund. While at AIG Capital Partners, Mr. Jarosz oversaw global private equity transactions for the firm’s various private equity funds. Prior to joining AIG in 1997, Mr.Jarosz practiced law at Debevoise & Plimpton, specializing in international private equity investment and Russian corporate and securities laws. Mr. Jarosz also served as a consultant to the World Bank on the regulation of Foreign Direct Investment in emerging markets. Mr. Jarosz is a graduate of the University of Montana, and received an MA in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a JD from Harvard Law School.
Andrew J. Rae, MBA – President, CEO and Director
Mr. Rae has spent a decade in the biotechnology industry, most recently as CFO with Ability Biomedical Corporation (Irvine CA, Vancouver BC), acquired by Medarex, Inc. in 2004. Mr. Rae has also served as Vice President, Finance & Corporate Affairs at Active Pass Pharmaceuticals (Vancouver BC). During his tenure at Active Pass and Ability Biomedical Mr. Rae raised approximately $20M in venture financing, engaged in a successful cross-border M&A; transaction, and played a significant role in shaping multiple business development deals. Prior to his operational experiences, Mr. Rae served as Biotechnology Equities Analyst, Goepel Shields & Partners (now Raymond James Canada), covering Canadian biotechnology stocks including Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, QLT Inc. and ID Biomedical. He currently sits on the Board of Directors for Liponex Inc., a Canadian, TSE-listed biopharmaceutical research company. Mr. Rae holds a B.Sc. from the University of Western Ontario and an MBA from Simon Fraser University.
John G. Clement, PhD – Chief Technical & Development Officer and Director
Dr. Clement possesses over twenty years of experience in preclinical and clinical drug development, project management, and product acquisition. Most recently Dr. Clement served as Director, Business Development at QLT Inc., one of Canada’s largest biotechnology companies and developer of Visudyne®, a $500M+ product used to treat age-related macular degeneration. Dr. Clement has also served as Director, Extramural Research/Associate Director, Biochemical Pharmacology & Toxicology at Biochem Pharma Inc., known as the pioneer of the AIDS drug 3TC. He was also research scientist & manager with Department of National Defence (DND) and a Research Scientist with CIBA-Geigy Canada Ltd. During his tenure with DND he held various scientific leadership / management positions and was responsible for the development of a new antidote for nerve agent poisoning (HI-6). He possesses a PhD from the University of Western Ontario and has published over 60 scientific articles.
W. John Meekison, BA, CIM – Chief Financial Officer and Director
Mr. Meekison is a veteran investment banker specializing in life sciences at Loewen Ondaatje McCutcheon, Haywood Securities, Dlouhy Merchant and PI Securities. As a financier, Mr. Meekison has raised in excess of $500 million in equity capital for various biotechnology companies such as StressGen Biotechnologies, ID Biomedical, Acorda Therapeutics, Inex Pharmaceuticals, Xenon Pharmaceuticals, Nortran Pharmaceuticals (now Cardiome) and BioMS Medical Corp. As CFO for a TSE listed company developing a novel clinical diagnostic platform, Mr. Meekison supervised all public reporting functions, human resources, accounting and budgeting, raising equity capital, renegotiating the Company’s existing line of credit, reviewing corporate strategy, and led M&A; discussions. Mr. Meekison received his BA from the University of British Columbia and is a Certified Investment Manager.